


Third Try's the Charm?

by OrionRedde, Shyrstyne



Series: Cometverse [62]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Character Death, Date Night, Multi, Not Really Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-08-13 03:57:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20167774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrionRedde/pseuds/OrionRedde, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shyrstyne/pseuds/Shyrstyne
Summary: Lea has a surprise for Isa and Comet.





	Third Try's the Charm?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm actually really sorry I had to do this to them

“Lea, I love you, but why did you pick here of all places?” You grouse as you wipe the humid sweat from your brow. The jungle is dense and thick here, and bugs buzz around your heads incessantly. 

It is, quite frankly, gross. 

“Trust me!” He says for the thousandth time. “It’ll be worth it when we get there.”

“So when will we get there?” Isa has rolled up his sleeves for quite possibly the first time ever. “Because we have been trailing around these rocky paths for nearly an hour now.”

“Eventually.” His answer is more hesitant than you think Isa had hoped however. 

“Lea. How long?” His voice is pointed. The three of you wander across a rope bridge that looks like it’s seen better days, but seems relatively sturdy at least. The canyon below isn’t as deep as the fissures back in the garden, and nowhere near as wide as the Great Maw, but it’s big enough that you can’t just jump it. You won’t be roughhousing on this rickety bridge or anything though.

“Look, it’s close I’m sure, I recognize this. I’ve just never had to walk here before so I wasn’t sure how long it’d take.” He rubs the back of his neck, embarrassed. You can’t see his face with him in front, but you can sense the faint embarrassment in his body language and take pity on him.

“You found this place while you were in the Organization?” You ask. 

“When did you even find the time?” Isa follows, somewhat incredulous. Lea shrugs. You emerge on the other side of the bridge without incident, and are swallowed by the dense trees once more.

“I actually ended up doing a lot of wandering after everything at Castle Oblivion. I found this place and it- well you’ll see.” He asserts, and then continues down the path. Isa frowns at the ground, before taking striding forward to follow him. 

“Lea-“ he starts hesitation in his voice, one he always gets when those days are brought up, but Lea shakes his head. 

“It’s in the past, Isa. Just let me surprise you guys with something nice, okay?” He smiles, and Isa relents. 

“Okay.” 

The three of you continue up the path, scaling the mountain one slow step at a time. 

As much as you bitch about the heat and bugs, the area is beautiful. Thick foliage near obscures the hot sun above, and sometimes you see the hints of fauna through the dark. It’s different and wonderful in its own way. 

“Ah! Here we go!” You hear Lea call, suddenly jogging forward. He pushes through a set of vines before leaning back and waving you and Isa over excitedly. 

“We’re here!”

You push through with a skeptical look, but it disappears quickly as you take in the scene before you.

“Hot springs?” Isa asks, glancing around the area with a similar look of wonder.

The area is  _ beautiful. _ The hot springs sit inset into a natural rock gradient, nestled into the gorgeous greenery of the rainforest. Along the edges of the pool are several bushes of large, blooming flowers in a cacophony of colours, blues and yellows and purples abound.

The water burbles pleasantly, framed by the distant sound of birds and bugs and the rustle of foliage.

“Hot springs!” Lea says with delight. “Figured it’d be a nice way for us to relax and get some time away from home.”

“Lea, this is amazing!” You say, still looking around at the scenery. Isa nods.

“It is, this is incredible. But.. we didn’t bring swimwear.” He points out. Your face falls for just a moment, but Lea just looks smug, tugging loose the knot of his yellow scarf and shrugging off his vest..

“We’re the only people around for miles, no one is here to judge us if we want to go without.” He says, and you frown.

“Lea, you know I don’t-” Isa starts to say, obviously not in love with the idea. You can’t say you are either, you may be alone out here, but that doesn’t make your body issues disappear.

Lea just opens the bag that had been slung over his shoulder.

“But! I know you guys are different from me so I went ahead and packed for you.” He tosses you each a bundle, and you unroll your bathing wear from the towel with a smile.

“Thinking ahead. Good job, Lea.” You say sincerely with a smile, and he flushes, pleased.

“I see the meds are helping.” Isa comments with a hint of tease. Lea pouts, but Isa just reaches up to pat his cheek.

“It’s a compliment.”

“I could plan ahead before too.” He protests, but gives the argument up as he tosses his towel over one shoulder and the three of you start to change.

You slip into the water with a low, long moan that’s probably almost obscene. Isa hisses a little as he gets in, it’s probably a little too warm for him, but you and Lea sink into it with abandon, letting the near scalding warmth soak into your muscle and bone and having both near melt at the sheer pleasure of it.

“This was a great idea.” You say, leaning back against the rocks and just letting yourself float. You weren’t really a swimmer, but you could float just fine. You feel the shift in the water as Isa moves.

“It was. Thank you, Lea.” He says, and you hear Lea do that embarrassed cough he does when he’s pleased but doesn’t know what to say. You reach out with one arm, knowing his is close by, and it takes a couple tries but you manage to find and hold his hand.

“Thanks.” You echo.

“Yeah well. I just thought you guys might like it.”

“We do.” Isa says, and you nod.

“I vote we never tell any of the kids about this.”

“Agreed.” Isa sinks further into the water, groaning as it hits the always-tense muscles in his shoulders.

“We’d never have it to ourselves again if we did.” Lea thirds the motion.

“Sora would stake his claim and none of the rest of us would stand a chance.” You say, and you hear Isa huff a laugh at the thought.

“The other kids would put up a fight though, it wouldn’t be long before this place was a warzone. I can see Roxas and Xion putting up an especially good fight for it.” He says.

“All that before Vanitas sneaks in and pulls it out from under the lot of them.” You continue. Lea gives your shoulder a light shove, sending you drifting back towards Isa. You don’t resist, letting the motion bob you along.

“You think Vanitas would be into this?” Lea asks, and in place of a shrug you make a non committal hum.

“I think Naminé would be, and if Naminé wanted it, Haru would want it, and if both of  _ them  _ want it, Vanitas would want to help.” You outline your logic.

“Interesting perspective.” Isa says. “But I think he would enjoy it on his own terms too. He has a predilection towards fire magic, and thus warmth, have you noticed?”

You sit up.

“Really?” Lea asks. “I mean I guess, but no more than normal. I would have assumed dark magic was more his thing.”

You shake your head.

“No, Isa’s right. The only dark magic he actually uses is his teleports. I try to keep the kids from casting magic in the house, but I can still tell he uses fire quite a bit. Maybe you should talk to him about that, actually. Make it a bonding experience, pair of fire boys.” You shoot Lea a smile, which he returns.

“Sure, maybe.

You spend the afternoon like that, floating aimlessly in the hot water until your extremities are long past pruny and you’re thoroughly waterlogged. Isa climbs out after a bit, the heat a bit too extreme for him, but he rests on the flat rock near the edge so he can still talk with you and Lea, still soaking blissfully in the soothing heat.

A low rumble echoes through the trees, causing the background forest noise to fall entirely silent.

You pull yourself up onto the edge of the rocks, looking around.

“What was that?” You ask. Lea strokes over to you with a frown.

“Earthquake?” He asks, Isa shrugs.

“That’s what it felt like, though we don’t have all that much experience with that, admittedly.”

“I have a bad feeling.” You say. You’re not sure if it’s just the unexpectedness of the situation or bad memories coming to the fore.

After all, the last time you, and you can only assume for Lea and Isa too, had ever felt the earth shake was back when Radiant Garden had fallen.

“Agreed.” Isa says, gathering his towel and clothes and standing. “I think we should go.”

You heave yourself out of the water with a sigh.

“Too bad though, I could have stayed here all day.” You say regretfully. Isa chuckles.

“This was nice.” He agrees. “At least we got a few hours out of it.” He’s already mostly dry and dressed, so he helps you and Lea do a quick towel dry and redress.

You’re nearly done, Lea ruffling his towel through his hair one last time when the ground gives another trembling shake, longer and louder this time, followed by a sound you can’t identify at first.

You  _ can _ identify the rising black smoke in the distance, further up the mountain, though. And it doesn’t mean anything good.

“Guys I think we might be on a volcano.” You say, looking blankly up at the smoke. Lea and Isa look up too, Lea wrapping his scarf back around his neck loosely and Isa picking up the bag. You see the spit of lava as a vent bursts open in the distance.

“An active one about to blow.” Isa agrees. “Let’s go.”

All three of you are very aware of how long it took to get here, so you take off at a jog down the narrow mountain path. There’s only so fast you can go in the tight quarters though.

At first you don’t notice the rising heat, above even the oppressive humidity of the rainforest and your recent swim in the hot springs. Your first hint is Isa in front of you, sweating hard and gasping lightly, trying ineffectually to rolls his sleeves higher without stopping.

“Isa, are you okay?” You don’t stop either, but as his steps falter you have to ask.

“I’m fine.” He deflects. “It’s getting hotter.”

“Is it?” Lea asks from behind you. Now that it’s been pointed out, Isa’s right, it is a little warmer, but not oppressively so… Or not to you at least. You did have some heat resistance though, so that made sense. Lea hadn’t noticed at all it seemed.

Isa grunts an affirmative.

“We just need to get back to the ship.”

Which is easier said than done as the heat continues to rise, and you emerge before the bridge you had crossed before.

Before the canyon it crossed had been empty, dark and deep with bits of plants and vines clinging to the sides in desperate attempts at life.

Apparently the flows beat you here first though. The lava flowing below is a slightly silvery colour as it moves far beneath you in the bottom of the canyon, something you belatedly realise is probably a natural lava convergence. You can see, with the break in foliage, several more small vents pop open further up the mountain, spitting molten rock into the air angrily.

The only way across is the rope bridge you came in on.

“I-” Lea starts, but Isa merely moves forward, stepping onto the bridge with a confidence you don’t think any of you feel.

“Isa wait-” You protest, but he doesn’t pause.

“The longer we wait the more tenuous this becomes. Let’s go.” He says with authority. You take a deep breath, drawing from his simple statement, and follow him. You feel the bridge creak as Lea enters just behind you.

The ropes sizzle fitfully, and you can see Isa moving as quickly as he can without jostling the weakening rope fibers. You’re doing much the same, and Lea probably is too.

None of you want to be on this almost literal tightrope any longer than you have to be.

You’re not fast enough.

The bridge swings wildly as the first rope snaps, the handhold on your left flopping uselessly as its tension suddenly vanished, flames licking at the ends. Isa stumbles, only feet from the rocky edge of the canyon. You hold tightly to the remaining handhold and are thankful it hadn’t been one of the ropes below you. You know it won’t last though, and Isa lurches towards the edge.

The second rope snaps, and the remaining two can’t take the strain and follow in a quick series of cracks. Isa is only half on the canyon edge, one hand clutching one of the stabilizing posts while the other reaches back towards you and Lea. You’re trapped in that endless moment of freefall for what feels like a thousand empty heartbeats of stopped time.

Isa’s hand grabs your forearm tightly, yanking on your shoulder painfully as the full weight of your momentum and body falls on it, but your attention is elsewhere, reaching behind you for Lea, backlit by the glow of molten rock, green eyes wide and almost glowing themselves. 

Your hand fists in fabric, and you feel the graze of his hands on your arm, but the falling bridge swings to the side, hitting both you and him before either of you can get a proper grip, tearing him away and gravity taking hold.

Something tears.

He has time to swing his head once, dazed, trying to grab for the flying ropes, but there’s not enough time. You scream as he lands hard, swallowed quickly by lava and fire.

For a moment, you forget to hold on, screaming until your throat is raw and your lungs empty, and then screaming some more. 

“No….. no………” Isa gasps breathlessly. Tears pour freely from wide eyes, disbelief and heartbreak written in every line of his face. He squeezes his eyes shut and then hauls you up onto the more sturdy ground. You’re still shouting, meaningless plea’s to the universe now, as he pulls you tightly to his chest in a hug that drives the breath from your lungs.

The ground trembles again. Isa stands, pulling you with him. You both keep going, Isa’s grasp tight in yours, knuckles white from the strain. Your shoulder hurts, not dislocated through luck alone.

There are no more major flows to cross, but you can see smaller ones incoming quickly. You make it down to the beach, where your ship waits, but you don’t go inside it. You can see the flow of the canyon pouring into the ocean not far away, sending billowing clouds of steam into the air. You stumble onto the soft sand and collapse, pulling Isa down with you.

Isa’s hand is in one of yours.

In the other is the tattered remains of Lea’s scarf.

You wail again, pressing both to your eyes. You feel Isa shake against you, overwhelmed by his own grief.

You can’t bear to move, clutching Isa and the scarf as tightly to you as you can possibly manage. Isa says nothing, face and body falling entirely blank and limp as what happened hits him in full.

What could you possibly say?

You’re not sure how long the two of you stay like that. Every heartbeat feels like an eternity, growing longer with each breath as the knowledge that Lea is gone sinks in.

You’re not sure what prompts you to look up, long after your throat has given up and no more noise can come from you, despite the tears that still fall, but you do, and you see something solid tumble from the canyon flow. For a moment you think you must be hallucinating, grief and desperate sadness playing tricks on you, but then you see the shape bob into the water, drifting away from the bits of slowly solidifying rock around the outflow.

You sit up, and Isa, sensing your change in posture, looks up as well.

“!” Your voice is all but gone, but you try to call his name anyway, stumbling forward and wading into the shallow heated waters in desperation.

It’s Lea.

His eyes are closed and he bobs in the water limply, but he’s entirely intact, not even the hint of burn to mar his pale skin. The only markings that pepper it are the scars that had already been there. Bits of solidifying rock cling to him, some places thick and covering, others like a dusting, almost disappearing against his faint freckles.

His clothes are gone, entirely vaporized. You reach out to touch him and jerk your hand back as your skin starts to scald almost before you can even come in contact. Isa grabs your wrist and dunks it beneath the water, away from Lea, staring wide eyed himself. He seems afraid to blink, as if the body before you will vanish if he drags his gaze away even for a moment.

You tuck the scarf into your neckline and then summon one of your sticks, nudging him so his head is above water better. Isa follows your lead and summons his claymore, using it to nudge Lea closer to shore. The water around him steams fitfully, and you can feel the heat emanating off him in a wide circle around the already warm waters. You get him close enough he can rest his head in the sand at least, and then you both start pushing water around him, keeping it moving in hopes of cooling him better.

Perhaps a foolish effort, with a lava flow emptying directly into the ocean nearby and leaving the whole area near boiling, but you can’t sit and do nothing. You can see the redness of Isa’s hands, the signs of burns from the water, and once again you wish you knew any kind of cure.

Neither you nor Isa speak. You’re not sure if you can, and you’re sure Isa is still processing. What could you even say?

It’s several minutes before you see Lea twitch softly, brows furrowing as if waking from a deep sleep only to find himself hungover. You and Isa watch with naked hope in your faces as Lea slowly blinks his eyes open, looking up at you both with bleary confusion.

“What happened?” He groans. You can’t help it, bursting into tears again at the sound of his voice.

“You fell in the lava.” Isa says, voice soft and tremulous, barely holding back his own tears.

“I what?” Lea has the wide eyed look of the disbelieving, pulling himself up to rest on his elbows.

“_W_ _ e thought you died _ !” You’re voice creaks weakly at the words, but you force them out.

“I- what?” Lea glances between the two of you, taking in your tear stained faces. “I-  _ what?? _ ”

He looks down at his hands, bits of lava and rock clinging to his skin and under his nails. He glances up helplessly.

“How? I knew fire didn’t- but this is-” He stutters, clearly not sure what to make of it.

“I don’t care.” Isa says firmly. “You’re here. Stars, Lea, I… I lived through your death before. Nearly caused it even. I can’t do it again. I can’t.”

“Isa..” Lea reaches out, but Isa leans away.

“You’re still hot, Lea. Literally.” You croak, using one of your sticks to push his hand down. He’s still steaming the water he’s sitting in a bit.

“Oh.” He says numbly. The three of you spend the next bit getting Lea cool enough to touch. Lea pries the bigger pieces of detritus off, but he’s still got a fine layer of grit clinging to him as you deem him okay to touch, and the three of you pile into the ship.

For a moment you all stand in the entry, none of you with the energy to do anything, but somebody still needs to fly the ship.

Finally Lea sighs and tromps into the cabin, you and Isa trailing behind him, unwilling to let him out of sight right now. He skips the pre-flight checks, pilots the ship into gummi space, and then parks in the shadow of a large meteor, all while still naked as a jaybird.

You pull some potions out of storage and start applying them to Isa’s burns. There’s only a couple basic potions in there, but Lea manages to scrounge up a hi-potion that covers the remainder. Apparently you need to restock.

“I know I just spent the last however many hours in water but.. I need a shower.” Lea says with a huff after you’ve finished. “I smell like ass.” 

The laugh it gets from you and Isa is a little incredulous, but it works. The ship shower isn’t meant for multiple people, but all three of you pile in anyway. You help Lea wash away the remaining grit and Isa washes Lea’s hair for him. The shower in the ship is a simple, practical thing, but the cold water is soothing as you methodically work your way across him, making sure he’s clean and there are no hidden wounds.

Lea hisses as Isa hits he large lump on his scalp that he’d gained from the bridge and then later the flow below, but doesn’t otherwise say much. He’d taken a bit of a hard fall, but that seems to be the worst of his injury. Your shoulder pulses angrily as you work, but you ignore it. You need to make sure that he’s okay.

Long after all three of you are done you stay there, resting on the tiny square floor of the ship shower, leaning against each other as the cold water pours over you.

“Gonna get pruny again.” Lea murmurs, but doesn’t even twitch towards getting up and moving.

“Too late.” Isa says just as quietly.

You realize belatedly that you never took your braid out. It’s probably a mess. You don’t care.

“So much for my nice surprise.” Lea grouses. You chuckle wetly.

“Next time…” You start slowly. “Can we just go to the Bistro or something? I just want a date night that doesn’t end with near death.”

Isa laughs. It sounds a little manic, all the spent energy and fear of the day pouring itself into the sound.

“Agreed.”

**Author's Note:**

> sorry i wrecked their nice date. c'mon you didn't think we'd kill our trashfire husband for real did you?


End file.
